Matthews, Michael Harrington, son of Very Rev. Walter Robert Matthews KCVO DD, Dean of St Paul's, and Margaret, d. of William Bryan; b. 26 Apr. 1914; adm. Sept. 1927 (A); Capt. of the school 1932; left July 1932; Ch. Ch. Oxf., matric. 1933, played cricket against Cambridge 1936 and 1937, BA 1937 (1st class hons Litt. Hum. 1937, Jurisprudence 1939); an accomplished pianist; Sub-Lieut RNVR; m. 2 Dec. 1939 Loveday, d. of Evelyn Robins Abbott CIE JCS, of Moulsford, Berks; killed in action May 1940.
Michael Harrington Matthews was born at Wandsworth, London on the 26th of April 1914 the elder son of the Very Reverend Walter Robert Matthews KCVO DD, Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, and Margaret (nee Bryan) Matthews of the Deanary, St Paul’s in London. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Ashburnham from September 1927 to July 1933. He won the Vincent Junior Prize in 1930. He played the piano solos “Reminiscence” and “The Stranger” by Schumann at an informal concert at the school in 1928 and the piano solo “Intermezzo”, his own composition, in an informal concert in 1931. He also played the viola solos “Rondo l’agreable” and Le Basque” by Marais in the same concert. He played cricket at Lord’s for C. F. Tufnell’s XI on the 26th of August 1929 when he scored 27 in the first innings and 8 in the second and his team won by six wickets. He was a member of the 1st Football XI from 1930 to 1933 where he played at left back and was awarded School Colours in 1930. The Elizabethan wrote the following on his 1930/1931 season: - “Lack of years and stamina has handicapped him, but his position play is sound, and the defects will remedy themselves next year. But if he is to be a really good back he must develop a longer and less erratic kick.” They wrote the following at the end of the 1931/1932 season: - “His methods are somewhat crude, but he is a player of indomitable perseverance and pluck, and was a most valuable member of the side.” They wrote the following on his 1932/33 season: - “A really good positional player and possessed of a fine determination. Had many good wingers to cope with and always did it well. Used his head well (in both senses), but never acquired the art of kicking a football properly. Understood the game probably better than anyone else on the side.”
He was runner up in the Long Distance race on the 8th of March 1932.
He was a member of the Cricket XI from 1930 to 1933, kept wicket in his last two years and was appointed as Captain in September 1930, winning his School Colours in the following year . The Elizabethan wrote the following on his 1931 season: - “(Captain) He was very young for his job, and had, as I have explained, an almost impossible task; but the experience will have been of great value to him, and he will approach next season with much more confidence. His Wicket keeping was of a high order, but was sometimes, not unnaturally, affected by his responsibilities. We shall look to him to make more runs too, next season.” They wrote the following on his 1933 season: - “I have already referred to his wicket keeping and captaincy. His batting was too impetuous to be successful.” He was appointed as a Monitor in September 1931 and as Editor of the Elizabethan in September 1932. He played the piano solo “Menuet”, from “Sonatine” by Ravel at an informal concert at the school in early 1933. He was appointed as Head of Ashburnham and as Captain of School in September 1932 and was awarded the Knapp Fisher Music Prize in 1933. He matriculated for Christ Church, Oxford in 1933 on a Westminster Classics Scholarship and was a member of the Oxford University Cricket XI making twenty three first class appearances for the university from the 9th of May 1934 to 5th of July 1937 and playing against Cambridge as wicket keeper in 1936 and 1937. His highest score with the bat was a score of 68 against the Minor Counties and his batting average while playing for the university was 13.10. He was awarded a “Blue” in 1936. He was awarded a Second in Classical Moderations and a First Class in Litterae Humanories in 1937 and achieved a First Class in the Honour School of Jurisprudence in 1939. He read for the Bar at Gray’s Inn. He was an accomplished pianist.
Following the outbreak of war he was commissioned as a Sub Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on the 10th of November 1939.
He was married at Wallingford, Oxfordshire on the 2nd of December 1939 to Loveday Elizabeth (nee Abbott later de Manio) of Moulsford, Berkshire.
He was posted to the destroyer HMS Greyhound (H05), under the command of Commander Walter Roger Marshall-A’Deane DSO DSC AM RN on the 2nd of January 1940 and saw action with her during the Norwegian campaign.
On the 20th of May 1940, HMS Greyhound was deployed to Dover for duties in the Channel and in the North Sea. On the 25th of May she and the destroyer HMS Grafton provided gunfire support against a German artillery battery to the east of Sangatte near Calais.
At 2pm on the on the 27th of May the two destroyers established a patrol between Fairy Bank and the Kwinte Buoys. During the night HMS Greyhound received orders from Dover Command to assist in the evacuation of troops of the British Expeditionary Force from the beaches at La Panne as part of Operation Dynamo. At 1am on the 28th of May, she sent boats ashore to begin picking up troops and by 6.15am the beaches had been cleared. She then returned to Dover, with around 700 troops on board, where she docked at Admiralty Pier and unloaded the men at 12.30pm. As soon as the troops were ashore she set sail again for Dunkirk where she embarked 681 men from alongside the pier there and returned to Dover at 12.30am the following morning.
At 4.30am on the 29th of May 1940, HMS Greyhound set sail for Dunkirk once again and arrived off the beaches at La Panne where she sent her whaler and other small boats ashore to evacuate more troops. At 4pm she came under attack from enemy aircraft and, on the fourth attack, the bombers achieved two near misses which sent shell splinters across the ship, killing twenty of the men on board and wounding seventy others. Michael Matthews was among the dead.
She attempted to sail towards North Goodwin but the Captain was concerned about losing all the fresh water on board due to a cut steam pipe and there was some flooding in the third boiler room. She requested the assistance of a tug when she arrived at North Goodwin and was taken in tow by tugs and by the Polish destroyer Blyskawica. She docked at Admiralty Pier at 2.45am on the 30th of May where 432 men were disembarked. She was later repaired at Chatham dockyard.
His father later wrote: - “‘I now come to the great sorrow of our lives, the event after which nothing was quite the same. Our eldest child, Michael Harrington Matthews, Sub-Lieutenant R.N.V.R. was killed on H.M.S Greyhound, the destroyer which was the first to reach Dunkirk, on May 28th, 1940. The little boy who had clung to his mother Margaret in 1916 during a Zeppelin raid crying, “But you aren’t frightened, Mummy, are you?” was shattered by a bomb from a German plane as he stood on the bridge of H.M.S Greyhound in 1940. Margaret and he were close together. They were in many ways alike and understood each other. Her words when the telegram of death came were characteristic of both: ‘Well, poor boy, he can’t disappoint himself now’. “
He is commemorated on the war memorial at Christ Church, Oxford and on the memorial at Gray’s Inn.
He is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial Panel 44, Column 2.
